Blue Remembered Hills
The title of the play - Blue Remembered Hills comes from a line in A.E. Houseman's poem that is quoted at the very end of the play. This poem is used because its ironic, it talks about childhood being "The Happy Highways" when most part of the play has been virtually the opposite.
The play was about death, war and destruction. It was set during world war two and the opening line is a young boy imitating gunfire from an aeroplane which is the shot down and crashes. He (Willie) then say's "Then be all dead. Dead, dead, burnt to nothing".
A lot of the play is also about how the children are in competition with each other - (Peter)- "Shut thy/thine chops, Willie. I'm number two a'ter Wallace and don't you forget it."
The poem gives a very nostalgic view, longing to be a child again - "This shows irony as it is spoken almost immediately after the death of a child (Donald burnt to death in the barn) which was partly the fault of the other children who would not let him escape from the barn as it burnt down. Donald's childhood, unlike the poem, would not have been one which an adult could have looked back on and been proud of. His father was taken away in the war, (MIA) and he was mocked for crying about this by ...
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The poem gives a very nostalgic view, longing to be a child again - "This shows irony as it is spoken almost immediately after the death of a child (Donald burnt to death in the barn) which was partly the fault of the other children who would not let him escape from the barn as it burnt down. Donald's childhood, unlike the poem, would not have been one which an adult could have looked back on and been proud of. His father was taken away in the war, (MIA) and he was mocked for crying about this by Peter.
This shows a typical childlike sense of black humour. Slightly older than young children always mock others, particularly if they are morally weaker, and Peter takes full advantage of his larger build to torment Donald for his own amusement.
Peter tended to use a much deeper voice when bullying, used to reinforce his status, whereas when talking to the girls (also when not bullying them), his voice is much higher, not girly, but normal.
Willie on the other hand is the perfect young child, during the phase in which he is obsessed with planes, cars and guns. His physical attributes help him a lot in the portrayal of a young child - lanky, skinny, clumsy etc. He also puts in several little things which are taken for granted in children, and so help to show him as a child, eg. Always fidgeting, eating with mouth open, and nervous little glances and gestures. He also played by himself a lot, especially when left alone. His costume also contributed to his character - socks pulled up as high as they could go, shirt untucked, and ruffled hair.
Raymond was a lot like Willie, however a lot more nervous. He had a stutter, as a lot of children did in those days, and a cowboy suit, which was probably the biggest indicator of his childhood to the audience in the entire play, with a possible exception of the girls and the pram. When he did manage to stutter the words out, he had quite a high voice, showing immaturity. He also had a knife - his first knife - and was very proud of it, therefore very protective as all children are of their new possessions.
He refused point blank to allow anyone else to touch it, and was reluctant to let Peter even see it in case he tried to steal it. As it was, Peter wrestled it off him, and made him (Raymond) cry - another childlike pointer for the audience.
The girls, Audrey and Angela were very comical in their appearance and performance, clearly the two young girls that everybody stereotypes; pigtails, glasses too big for the face, little blue and green dresses, socks rolled down, and of course, the doll and pram combo.
This clearly showed the audience that these two were a pair of girls that spend their days playing Mummy and Daddy.
It was amazing how quickly and unquestioningly the audience accepted that these adult actors were in fact little children in the war period. This shows clearly that the actors, props and costumes were key factors in the portrayal of children to the audience.